Spoilers for The Studio
AppleTV+’s The Studio cleaned up at this year’s Emmy Awards, winning 13 out of the 23 awards it was nominated for and setting a record for the most wins by a television series in its first season. I watched The Studio over the summer and loved it. It reminded me of my all-time favorite comedy, (the first three seasons of) Arrested Development. The writing is tight, the plotlines are absurd (but also easy to imagine being real), and everyone in the cast just plays off of one another perfectly. Clearly, the Academy voters agreed with me, especially when it came to a cast that was just firing on all cylinders. Seth Rogen may have won for Outstanding Actor, but almost every single principal and guest actor was nominated for acting awards.
Speaking of, Bryan Cranston just won his seventh Emmy for his role as studio CEO Griffin Mill. He was up against his fellow guest actors: Anthony Mackie, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and Dave Franco. One of the funniest/most absurd episodes was the two-part season finale, which involves most of the main characters, including Zoe Kravitz (playing herself) and Cranston’s Mill accidentally getting high on mushrooms. Extreme hijinks ensue, and Cranston in particular turns in an absolutely hysterical performance. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cranston shared that he’s so committed to his craft that he decided to try mushrooms in order to prepare for the episode. And for research purposes, Catherine O’Hara joined him.
The Breaking Bad star shared, “I’m playing this character who is wiped out and I had never had any experience in that. Not many drugs at all, as a matter of fact, and so I didn’t know really how to behave.”
He said he decided to reach out to The Studio co-creator Seth Rogen and costar Ike Barinholtz for some advice.
Cranston recalled, “So I was asking Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz, ‘You guys are huge druggies! What can you tell me?’” adding that they told him the best way to start would be microdosing.
“I said, ‘I don’t even know what that is. What is that?’ Well, it’s a microdose, you know?” the actor told Kimmel. “And I said, ‘What would the effects be?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll try some!’ And I go, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on.’ ”
Cranston admitted he then had the perfect opportunity to try the drugs for the first time.
“We were in Las Vegas shooting this crazy show with Seth Rogen and we all decided to go to the Sphere to see the Grateful Dead,” he said. “If God wasn’t telling me to do microdosing, what was he telling me?”
Cranston said his The Studio costar Catherine O’Hara, 71, also got involved, but they were “nervous” about it and were both “clutching each other” and going back and forth over whether they actually wanted to try it.
“We were nervous. And Ike Barinholtz was our drug dealer. Can I say that?” Cranston questioned, adding, “And he said, ‘I’ll take care of you.’ And I said, ‘I’ve heard that before!’ ”
Cranston went on to say that Barinholtz insisted their experience with the drugs wasn’t “gonna be anything,” telling Kimmel, “So he gave us these little thin square chocolates — you know what it is [he told Kimmel]. Some people don’t. And this little square chocolate, I go, ‘It’s a piece of chocolate? It’s like a wafer!’ ”
He continued, “And so I broke it in half, I took it … nothing. I didn’t feel anything,” adding when he took more, “It felt like maybe I took three sips of wine.”
“It was nothing! Nothing!” Cranston screamed in mock anger. He added when Kimmel questioned whether the microdose surprised him and kicked in later, “No! Now I’m angry.”
The host joked, “So you really are a great actor, it turns out, because that was all acting,” after showing the scene in question earlier in the interview, where Cranston’s character had taken drugs.
The actor insisted, “It was acting. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
This story is absolutely hysterical. I guess there really is nothing that Cranston and O’Hara won’t do for their craft. That’s what makes them professionals! Even if some of it was exaggerated, I still cannot believe that Bryan got away with sharing all of those details! I need to hear both O’Hara’s and Barinholtz’s sides of this story now. Did they all attempt to trip together? Was it just Cranston who felt nothing? Part of me wonders if maybe Barinholtz just gave them regular old squares of Ghirardelli chocolate in hopes of triggering a placebo effect. I also need to hear more about their trip to the Grateful Dead concert at the Sphere. That sounds like it was a super fun time, with or without substances.
Finally, I’ve had an idea formulating in my head ever since I watched The Studio. I know that they’re not on the same network, but what if The Studio was on the same timeline/universe as Hacks? Can you even imagine the potential crossovers? I’d love to see Sal (Barinholtz) and Quinn (Chase Sui Wanders) go up against Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Statler). That would be so entertaining.
Here’s the video of Cranston’s appearance. Their Emmy talk is in the beginning. Kimmel does a funny bit at the end in which he allows Cranston to do a televised Emmy acceptance speech. It’s quite charming.
Photos credit AppleTV + via their press site and Getty
For clarity’s sake, they did not see the Grateful Dead. They saw Dead & Company. Which, while playing the same songs and containing some of the original band members, is NOT the Grateful Dead. And if anyone is like “it’s semantics”, no. It is not. And the band has merch and a website and a trademark on the Dead & Co name so they’re not trying to play it off as the Grateful Dead. They haven’t done that (intentionally) since Jerry died because they know it cannot be recreated. I realize that to some this might seem like not a big deal but it’s lazy reporting.